Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Hal blinked.

He had not really been expecting such a speedy surrender. He expected a bit of a fight. He wanted to truly break the Chief, alas, all of that want and expectation eluded him all because Orlon was a coward.

As for Orlon, who could blame him for not even trying to face the monster before him?

Dorgroth, a stronger being with more experience lost his life in combat against this monster and his throne fell into the hands of someone who embraced all of Hal's stipulations, so what hope was there for Orlon in resistance?

Also, the three other rulers of the Continent had surrendered to Hal's stipulations and due to his private transportation channel, they could enter and exit wherever they wished on the Dystopian Continent. If Orlon were to resist, he would have to do so with a ready mind of fighting against the Devil Tribe, the Phoenix Clan, and very likely the Dragon Clan as well.

Surrendering was the option with the least amount of casualties and just the safer and less suicidal bet.

Orion stood from his throne and walked towards Hal who arched a brow in response to the statement of surrender.

"Clearly there is a new Order in place in the Dystopian Continent. The serpent Tribe will like to be on the winning side of history," Orlon said and he put a hand on Hal's shoulder as though they were comrades.

Those in Orlon's court were all nodding along with their Chief's words and actions with the readiness to comply.

They had expected to be visited eventually as it already appeared as though Hal was taking a tour through all Dystopian Continent ruling segments.

The Serpent Tribe prides itself on being a survivor. They would always survive and see and fight another day.

Serpents that made up the Serpent Tribe came in varying races but could all come together as a unit to rise above all others and take control of a segment.

Even after they took their seat as one of the Dystopian rulers, the Serpent Tribe had run the risk of losing their place several times.

The most notable of these attempts made by the others was during the time the Quad was still a Trio.

The Dragon and Pheonix Clans conspired to remove the imprint of the Serpent Tribe on the Nexus stone which they had more access to than the Serpent Tribe. In response to this, the Serpent Tribe secretly assisted the Devil Tribe to make a play for the Nexus stone.

The Devils succeeded, added their imprint and it was then unanimously decided that the Nexus stone be kept in a separate dimension that could not be accessed unless by the unanimous attempt of the rulers of each of the four Dystopian ruling powers.

The scheme had not gone completely to plan as the Devil Tribe adding their imprint had not been part of the scheme but at the very least, the Serpent Tribe succeeded in keeping their imprint safe.

Anyway, every member of Orlon's court was in agreement with him.

Speaking of Orlon, Hal glared at his hand on his shoulder and grabbed it to drive a torturing energy into the Serpent Chief.

"Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh, I get it! I won't touch you!" Orlon yelled in instantaneous remorse but Hal did not relent and rather increased the pain he was delivering while he tied the Serpent Chief to his cause.

When Hal finally released Orlon, he fell to the ground, twitching with a significant loss of energy. It had been easier for Hal to tie him to the cause as well as torture him because Orlon himself had already surrendered.

Hal then walked past the weak-looking Chief to approach his vacated throne which he sat on to quick bowing from every single person in the hall. They all seemed unsure of the title to refer to Hal as and hoped their very clear submission was good enough.

Hal summoned a pouch of Nirvana pills and tossed it to whoever was closer to him,

"Take a pill and pass the pouch"

Immediately, they put his words into action, and in ten seconds, they were all heady and relaxed with the narcotic effects of the pills.

Once everyone had taken a pill, the pouch, still containing Nirvana pills was returned to Hal who stowed it away, let the effects really set in before he ordered,

"Everyone except Orlon, leave"

They all filed out in an orderly but trance-like fashion and once they had all left, Orlon stood to his feet but had his head bowed to Hal.

As he sifted through the Chief's thoughts, Hal chuckled at the fact that Orlon had considered his surrender to be temporary and only last for as long as it would take him to reclaim control. The chuckle was for how silly and implausible such a plan was.

"They'll be here soon," Hal said with his cheek resting on his fist.

Mentally, he started to give Orlon orders on the changes he wanted in the Serpent Tribe as well as preparing him to welcome Lucile's Nirvana Pill distributions.

Portals then opened within the Throne room and out of them came Alvira, Elenor, and Naya.

There was no word spoken as all three immediately rallied with Orlon to do what they had been summoned to do.

The four held their hands and closed their eyes while space-warping energy exuded from them like heat waves and the space within the Throne room began to shake and distort with instability and a speed-run towards getting shattered and turning it into a ravenous black hole insistent on sucking all things in before imploding on itself.

Hal remained seated on Orlon's throne as a picture of perfect calm with his lips stretched in a handsome grin.

The instability only got worse and eventually, a force spread from the four which pushed all objects to various extremes within the throne room. All objects except the throne Hal was occupying.

And then it opened... A crack in space and the opening into the dimension within which laid the Dystopian Continent Nexus Stone.

The Stone contained four colors marking the four imprints that had been placed on it and as Hal approached it, he was grinning.

He took the stone and left the dimension after which he reached into the mind of the four to rid them of the responsibility they held to safeguard the dimension holding the Nexus Stone.

As he rid them of the responsibilities, the space shook as it neared implosion at which point, Hal closed the dimension so the implosion would not spread out at them. Even then, the implosion of the dimension still shook the Throne Room to the point of almost getting destroyed.

"And now to destroy it," Hal said with a focused stare.

He remembered when he saw the Haron Continent's Nexus stone and thought he could destroy it with a flame crystal. How foolish a thought. To put the durability of the Nexus Stone into a bit of a perspective; it would have survived the implosion of the space it had been kept in (an implosion that not even a Demi-god without means could shrug off) and then just float in an unstable void that would attack it from all sides and angles and still be perfectly fine.

The Nexus stones represented more than the Nexus of the faith of the Denizens of the Nexus World... They were basically parts of the structure of the world itself. Innate governing forces. To get rid of them was to get rid of innate demarcation.

The power required to destroy a Nexus stone was not just blunt but also a matter of principle. Principal of a different thing or being taking control of the inmate governing of the Nexus World's separate continents.

Hal stood among the quad of Alvira, Elenor, Naya, and Orlon as he used Infinity to drive deep into the Nexus stone in search of the very center he could untangle.

Hal got there but he was met by the consciousness of the stone that of course wished to stop what he was about to do.

"It's foolish to think you can stop me," Hal told the consciousness that was formless and just constantly existing within the area that Hal had delved into.

"I represent the consciousness of the Nexus World. I can in fact be considered one-half of this world's consciousness itself. I know things that you do not" the Nexus stone's Consciousness said.

Hal folded his arms

"I doubt that," he said with a chuckle.

"You have my permission to rid me of the imprints placed on me, there are three too many anyway." the consciousness said to which Hal answered,

"I don't require your permission"

The consciousness pushed on as though it had not been interrupted.

"Once you have rid me of the imprints, you can then place your own and be treated to the benefits you seek," it said.

"You have no idea what I seek," Hal said.

"You seek to harness faith, do you not?" it asked.

"I do," Hal said with an agreeing nod before his grin turned wolfish, "But I wish to do it by first getting rid of you"

There was silence for a few seconds and then the Consciousness said,

"You can't be serious"

"Dead serious. Oh, poor choice of words considering what lies in your future"

The consciousness sensed the seriousness in Hal's words and its tone became deeper and ominous,

"That is... Insane. Do you have any idea what such a thing would cause? You will bring about a complete breakdown of this continent. Absolute catastrophe is what such action will bring.

There is no way you can consider that a win" it said.

"Oh but I do consider it a win," Hal said with a wide taunting grin, "Trust me, I do"